Yes, we’re hitting the years where we’re going to start seeing “50th Anniversary” Beatles’ releases, which explains the subtitle on this series of recordings the Fabs made before becoming famous, backing singer Tony Sheridan in Germany.

Recorded in 1961 and 1962, the original sessions constitute only eight songs, but they’ve done a good job turning it all into a well-annotated double-CD box set, with various alternative takes, mono and stereo versions, etc.

Sheridan sang lead on the bulk of the material with The Beatles acting strictly as a backing band, but John Lennon did get to step to the microphone to offer a rollicking take of “Ain’t She Sweet,” and the set list includes a rare John Lennon/George Harrison original instrumental, “Cry for a Shadow.”

A few years ago European label Bear Family released a gorgeous box set of this material that remains the definitive set of The Beatles with Sheridan. However, this much more compact offering is also very impressive for Beatles’ completists out there.

The first thing that’s striking about this DVD is how positively odd the timing of the release is.

Focusing on Paul McCartney and the huge benefit he staged in New York City in the aftermath of 9/11, it’s really just a companion piece for a performance that was released a decade ago.

Filmed mostly in black and white, it does feature some very prominent guests, from James Taylor, Mick Jagger and Keith Richards to Pete Townshend, Billy Joel, Elton John and others. But plenty of the backstage characters are every bit as intriguing as the musicians, with President Bill Clinton, Harrison Ford, Leonard DiCaprio and others all checking in on McCartney and the concert action.

It was a very noble effort to stage the show and it undoubtedly was one of the events that helped New York and its people during those horrific days immediately after the attack on the twin towers. And while some spots are revealing – like McCartney trying his best to be a ‘regular guy” walking the streets of the Big Apple, it now seems like something that would have ended up as a “bonus feature” available with the concert film, than standing out there on its own a decade after the fact.